Academy of Falling Kingdoms Box Set

by Marisa Mills

  I wondered if what Celeste said was true. Was Viviane really Claribel’s daughter, or just another child she’d taken in? Having Gabriel take a child away must’ve broken her heart. The realization sank in, and ice settled in my veins. She’d given up Viviane, to protect me, but I’d ended up in Gabriel’s service anyway. She must have felt so powerless.

  “You all have such strange names,” Viviane said. “I could’ve been called Wynter.”

  I smiled, but I was too tired to hold the expression. A heavy silence settled over us, broken only by the rushing waters and the creaking of the gears around us. Despite a few broken pillars and a handful of shattered crystals, the engine was still working, which meant Reverie was still in the sky, for now. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to take a long bath and fall asleep. Finally, Alexander stood. He wobbled a bit and offered me his hand. I let him help me to my feet.

  “We should leave this chamber closed for now,” Alexander said.

  “Agreed,” I replied.

  But that woman… Lucian muttered.

  “I doubt we’ll be able to find Celeste now,” I said. “Assuming she survived.”

  I linked my arm with Jessa, worried she might fall over. Viviane climbed to her feet, leaning on Dorian’s sword to stay upright. Tatiana looked exhausted but seemed mostly uninjured.

  “I don’t think we could fight her even if she did survive,” Alexander said. “I’m sure once I send Father this way, they’ll scour the kingdom to find her.”

  “What about Wynter?” Jessa asked. “Is she still a fugitive?”

  “From the crown, maybe.” Alexander said. “At least until we can explain that Celeste was really the one behind everything.”

  “Then maybe we should head straight to the Academy, rather than back through town,” I said.

  “Agreed,” Tatiana said. “The Council can protect us, for now.”

  We slowly left the chamber, and once we were outside of it, Alexander and I pressed the great doors closed. They locked with an echoing snap.

  We wandered into the tunnel leading to the Academy. I took in a deep breath and squeezed the charm, as if for luck. What would happen to me now? Would everyone believe us about Celeste and the chamber, or would this be more proof of how I’d spoken to demons?

  “Professor Gareth should help us,” I said. “At least, there’s that.”

  “Why Gareth?” Viviane asked.

  “He can talk to demons,” I replied tiredly. “I think.”

  “Really?” Tatiana asked. “I knew I liked him. Well, that and he’s always been so nice, even if he didn’t agree with my father’s theories.”

  “He might not even believe Oberon is wrong,” Alexander replied.

  Maybe not. He’d known about Guinevere’s charm. In the dim light, I looked over the gem, its facets shining even in the darkness. No, not just Guinevere’s charm. My mother’s charm. I knew my mother’s name.

  “What do you think will happen now?” I asked.

  “About what?” Viviane asked.

  Someone tripped, and Lucian’s fire sprang forth. The flames crackled feebly but lit the way better.

  I can’t…manage for long, Lucian murmured.

  “It’s all right,” I said.

  “Well,” Alexander said, “I’ll tell my father that Celeste was summoning the demons and that we’re under attack by agents of Aubade. He’ll send the Council to try and find her. Maybe they’ll find her; maybe they won’t.”

  “But what about me?” I asked.

  Alexander hesitated. “I don’t…”

  “What can they do?” Viviane asked. “We know that you’re Guinevere’s daughter now. King Gregory would be foolish to insist on exiling a Rosewood.”

  “Once all this gets out, Father will probably be humiliated,” Alexander said. “Especially considering Celeste’s involvement. How bad does that look? He tried to pin the crimes of a grand magician on a first-year mage.”

  Finally, the corridor ended, and Lucian’s flames vanished. I felt my hands along the stone, searching for the place that would make it swing open. Jessa found it and twisted the lever. With a grunt, Alexander forced the stone open, and we stumbled into the vault.

  The room was well-lit by torches flickering along the walls. We edged carefully past the piles of objects—jewelry and pens and weapons—but before we even reached the door, it opened. Professor Gareth stood in the doorway, framed in light. Relief rushed through me. “Professor!” I exclaimed.

  “Wynter! Everyone!” Gareth exclaimed, his smile faded as he saw our torn and bloody clothes. “Goodness, how many demons did you fight this time?”

  “Just one,” Alexander cut in. “Celeste tried to destroy Reverie by unleashing the demons powering the kingdom. She nearly killed us. Have you seen her?”

  “Kill you?” Gareth asked, his eyes widening. “No, we haven’t seen her in hours. We thought she was out looking for you. My word! Let’s get you to the infirmary!”“

  When I reached Gareth, he smiled.

  “I promise, Wynter, everything will be just fine,” he said softly. “The Council has forced the king to remove his troops from Academy property, and we’ve tightened the wards. You’ll be safe here.”

  I smiled back. “I know.”

  Twenty-Six

  I CURLED MY FINGERS AROUND the iron and crystal fence running the span of the Rosewood estate. I wasn’t Wynter Wilcox. I was Wynter Rosewood. It would take some getting used to. I should’ve stayed with Professor Gareth. He’d promised to answer some questions, once the Council finished arguing about what to do with me. Using Guinevere’s charm had made me a magical matter, worthy of the Council’s attention, but they were too busy arguing about what to do with the faltering demon chamber to spare much time for me.

  Alexander had taken my mother’s charm back to the palace, before the king declared a civil war to get it back. I was sad to lose it after everything that had transpired, but part of me felt safer with it gone. I couldn’t forget the look in Celeste’s face as I tapped into the dark powers of decay, the rage I’d felt as I tore away her skin. The journey to the palace would take a whole day, so Alexander would be gone for a while. Viviane had gone to find Frederick and Eleanor. Tatiana went home to return the map to Oberon, which left me alone in the infirmary with Jessa. But she’d been sleeping all day and I was restless. Maybe it would’ve been better to hide away for a while and let the dust settle, but I was already here. And I couldn’t avoid Dorian forever.

  You could just—

  “We’re not setting him on fire.”

  I pushed open the gate and walked to the entrance. As usual, Francisca opened the door before I could knock. She smiled slyly and curtsied. “Welcome home, Lady Wynter.”

  Lady Wynter.

  Francisca ushered me inside and led me to Dorian’s study. When I entered, it was dark, lit only by the weak beams of light filtering through the curtains, which smelled faintly like smoke and rosemary. Dorian was at his desk, drinking tea and signing a stack of papers. I crossed the room and stood behind the chair opposite his desk.

  A smattering of mostly healed scratches marred Dorian’s cheek and disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt. His right eye looked foggy; a thin, jagged scratch stretched across his iris, barely noticeable in the dim light. He must’ve been injured by the exploding wine glass at the forum. The injury made him look somehow even more dangerous.

  “Thank you, Fran,” Dorian said.

  Francisca curtsied and left.

  “I wondered when you’d come by,” Dorian said. “I would have come to the Academy, but the light gives me migraines.” He gestured towards his face. I felt a pang of sympathy for him, but considering everything I’d been through, he’d gotten off relatively easy

  I curled my hands over the back of the chair and gathered my resolve.

  “You have some explaining to do,” I said.

  “Do I?”

  The way he
asked the question was so flippant, so unaffected.

  “How long have you known I was your niece?” I asked.

  “I’d suspected from the beginning, but I knew for certain at your testing,” Dorian replied, “When you set the curtains on fire. Nobody else could have controlled that device like that.”

  “And you never thought to tell me?”

  “It wasn’t advantageous,” he said, stirring his tea.

  “Advantageous? You knew this whole time, and you didn’t—even when the king asked you—”

  “I told him I believed you were a mage with breeding as good as my own,” Dorian said.

  “And I suppose it would’ve killed you to be wholly honest,” I said. “They tortured me!”

  “And your friend threw glass in my face,” he said. “I think that makes us even.”

  “It’s not just about being injured! It’s about—about—you could’ve prevented all of this!”

  “If I had, I wouldn’t know what I know now,” Dorian said, “and you wouldn’t have opened the chamber.”

  “So it was worth it, then?” I asked.

  “Yes, it was worth it. Think of all we’ve achieved together. I suspected the king had Gwen’s charm, and I couldn’t figure out how to get it. But I knew if Alexander was forced to participate in your punishment, he’d choose your side.”

  “How did you know that would happen?” I asked.

  “I suggested it. Of course that was only after you forced me into a corner, with your little stunt at the palace. And I would have been no help to you if we were both in prison.”

  “How could you do that to Alexander? Even—”

  “It saved you, didn’t it? If you can count on young men for one thing, it’s impulsivity, especially if there’s a pretty girl involved.”

  “Saved me? You used me!” I retorted. “I was terrified! I thought I would have to return to Gabriel, so I’d be enslaved again for the rest of my life. You didn’t even tell me that you had a plan. And you think it’s all fine because you now know where a gemstone is?”

  “And that Alexander is willing to steal it for you,” Dorian replied. “I don’t think you realize how useful it will be to have a prince on our side.”

  “I don’t care! I’m sure it was great for you. You got to—what? Humiliate your sister and the king? Hide that you’ve been scheming all this time? Prove that you were right about something? I am so happy for you!”

  “Wynter, even if I’d admitted I knew about your deception, it wouldn’t have changed anything,” Dorian said, “except that I’d have earned a beating alongside you and likely lost my title to Eleanor. Bear in mind that it wasn’t lying about your past that condemned you. It was the king’s insistence that you were talking to demons.”

  I clenched my jaw and glared at him, my anger driven partly by just how serene he looked. Why did he have to sound so reasonable? Why did everything he said have to make so much sense? Maybe it didn’t. Maybe he just knew how to argue better than I did. But he wasn’t entirely wrong. Dorian may have forced me to lie about my past, but sneaking into the palace and talking to Lucian had been all me.

  “You can blame me for my actions if you like,” Dorian said, his voice softening, “but I suspect you were very much guilty of the crime you’d been accused. After all, your father could speak to them. That’s what inspired him to create Gwen’s charm.”

  I froze but only for an instant. “And how do you feel about that?” I asked.

  “I think it’s very exciting,” Dorian replied.

  Exciting, Lucian said. I don’t like that.

  “For what it’s worth, Wynter, I am pleased with how this turned out. You should be, too. A few unpleasant days and you earned a title. Now that the king realizes you can speak to demons, you’ll need to tread softly around him,” Dorian said, “but I suspect outwardly he’ll be very apologetic. And you’ve found your family.”

  “Only to discover they’re all either dead or hate me,” I said dryly.

  “Hate you? How absurd,” Dorian said. “I wasn’t sure I’d like you at first, but I do now. You’ve become quite a lovely young lady. You must’ve had an excellent etiquette instructor.”

  Dorian would take credit for me being more lady-like than I once had been.

  “So when do I get to make you into something?” I asked.

  “You don’t. Young people are impressionable and easy to change, but I’m quite set in my ways, so unfortunately, you’ll have to do without me learning that charming Plumban accent,” Dorian said.

  “I didn’t mean like that,” I said. “It’s just…when I was a child, I used to always hope my mother would come back for me. I always hoped that I had a family somewhere in the world, a family who loved me and would take me away from Gabriel. And now, I’ve learned that I did have a family somewhere else, a family who would take me away, but it’s you.”

  “And I’m not what you wanted.”

  “No, not at all. I wanted someone who would love me, and who I could love,” I said. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe this was the only way to learn where Gwen’s charm was, and what it could really do. And we did draw out Celeste and stop the demon attacks. So I don’t entirely hate you. But I don’t know if I like you, either.”

  “Perhaps, it’s a bit of both,” Dorian said. “I felt similarly about my own mother. I both loved her and hated her. She was an ambivalent creature, too. Cruel and kind in equal measures.”

  “And are you content with me having the same feelings towards you that you had towards your mother?” I asked bitterly. “Is that what you’ve always wanted? To be someone’s Amelia?”

  Dorian said nothing, but he seemed to be mulling the question over.

  “Did you kill her?” I asked, after a few seconds of silence.

  “No. I was…at first, I was genuinely upset she was gone,” Dorian said, sounding absentminded, “and after realizing how indebted she was to the Crown, I even pitied her a little. Pitied her, even as I hated the way Mother refused to take risks.”

  “Risks like trying to find the objects Gwen and Nick stole.”

  “I wondered if you knew about that,” Dorian said. “There were…other issues, too, but that was a big one.”

  “They’re gone,” I said quietly. “They destroyed them, in the woods outside of Plumba. They were freeing the demons.”

  Dorian’s face paled, and he looked at me intently for a few seconds.

  “Ah, now that is unfortunate.”

  Dorian wasn’t a good man, but maybe he wasn’t a wholly bad man either. He wasn’t the family I’d always wanted, but maybe he could be someday. Or something close to it.

  Or maybe Lucian was right. I’d been abused my whole life and was desperate to have anyone love me, even if it was a conniving nobleman who’d never care anything for me.

  Maybe it’s a little of both, Lucian said. I was wrong about the princess and the princeling. Maybe, someday, I’ll be wrong about your nobleman, too.

  He didn’t really believe that; he was just trying to make me feel better.

  “I think,” I said, “I might be less ambivalent about you if you weren’t so self-centered with all your goals. I don’t like the thought of always being secondary to your ambitions. Perhaps, if you were a little less selfish.”

  “What a horrifying notion,” Dorian said. “The day I do a selfless deed, it’ll probably kill me, thereby rendering any efforts at improving myself wholly pointless.”

  “I think you’re afraid.”

  “Of dying?”

  “No,” I replied, “of becoming a better person and living. You’re worried that you’ll become a good person and have to spend the rest of your life having everyone talk about how kind and refreshingly honest you are.”

  “The only thing I fear is an empty wine cellar.”

  “You should fear me,” I said, taking a step closer.

  “Should I?” he asked.

  “Yes
,” I said matter-of-factly, “because I’m going to charm you. Maybe not soon. But someday. And then, you’re going to have to live with being a slightly better man who genuinely loves and dotes over his niece.”

  “But your venture is utterly pointless, Wynter. You can’t change everyone. If you could, Gabriel wouldn’t have been so awful to you.”

  “But you aren’t Gabriel,” I said. “You’re my uncle Dorian, and if I had to change to please you, you ought to change to please me.”

  “I look forward to watching you attempt that endeavor,” he said, sounding amused.

  “There’s one more thing,” I said. “You promised a home for Briar and Sterling in Argent, but I’m sure you’ll try to change the rules again.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yes,” I replied, “so I’m going to set my own terms. I’m important to your political ambitions, so either you make good on your promise, or I’m leaving.”

  Dorian arched an eyebrow. “Where would you go?”

  “Why would I tell you?” I asked. “I’ll go, and I’ll make you chase me.”

  “You’re assuming you’d be worth chasing,” Dorian replied. “I might choose instead to follow other pursuits. What, then?”

  I crossed my arms and bit my lip.

  Call him out, Lucian said. He doesn’t mean that.

  “I think you’re bluffing,” I said. “I think after all the trouble it’s taken you to get me, you’ll want to keep me around.”

  “I tried running from Reverie once,” Dorian said, “and you can see how well that ended for me.”

  “Maybe I’d be more careful than you.”

  “Maybe you would be,” Dorian replied, “but I’ve already given you my word, Wynter.”

  “I don’t want your word. I want a place of my own, where the people I love will be safe. I want you to actually do this,” I said. “I’m tired of you taking advantage of me. I know you don’t believe I’ll actually run away—”

  “I do believe you,” Dorian interrupted. “I’ll do it. There’s something I need to verify in Plumba, anyway.”

  “You have three months,” I said. “Or I’m gone.”